Eugenics: Margaret Sanger vs. Theodore Roosevelt

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[Crolis]

I will admit, when I learned of TR’s support for the eugenics movement, my respect for him diminished.

However, the philosophy of eugenics and utilitarianism was popular during that time. Many people, H. G. Wells, George Bernard Shaw, Margaret Sanger, TR, and others were adherents to it. That doesn’t make it right of course.

The philosopher G. K. Chesterton was actively opposed to eugenics and regularly called out the flawed thinking of its proponents.

[Rockingham]

Not a fair point. Both quotes express simple barnyard logic that would be familiar to a country mostly composed of farmers. At the time, such sentiments were also consistent with Darwin’s supposedly advanced scientific reasoning about a “favoured race.”

[Impala64ssa]

Bfl